Classical Music Now
No Dice Collective
Subscribe
Joe Chesterman-March chats and laughs with the composers, players and organisers doing exciting things in the world of classical music today.
Expect insights into the creative process, career paths, cross-disciplinary chat, and an honest look at the the classical music industry for the people in it.
A No Dice Collective podcast. New episodes released on the 1st of each month.
Available episodes
Newest first
Oldest first
Jul 1, 2020
E7 Can you Save Cheetahs with Electroacoustic Music?
Ah what a lovely chat. We begin with a love letter to new music and Manchester, work through why everyone should be improvising and the parallels between graphic scores and electroacoustic soundscapes, before ending with the role of music in activism, and electro finding a mainstream home in horror music and Amazon’s Alex Rider adaptation.
Sarah Keirle - http://sarahekeirle.wixsite.com/
Links and Show Notes The Illy Quane Episode
James Keirle
International Anthony Burgess Foundation
The Vonnegut Collective episode
I found it! Turns out we liked the piece enough to commission him… Theme & Transformations by Mark Bowler reflecting deforestation (not temperature change)
Sonification & The Problem with Making Music from Data - Tantacrul
https://harryovingtonmusic.com/sonic-rewild
Harrison Birtwistle: Silbury Air (with score) – See also this excellent primer by London Sinfonietta which includes an explanation of what metric modulation is if you’re wondering.
Can you hear Sarah Keirle’s burp in Okypete and Aello? I can’t. Send me a timestamp!
Danny Saul
Music played in this episode (in order) Gethsemane intro bed
Okypete and Aello extracts throughout
Blue Lungs outro bed
Okypete and Aello final piece played in full
Support the podcast Review us on iTunes
Subscribe to the mailing list to catch every new episode
May 31, 2020
E6 Trumpet Player Roasts Musical Establishment for 60 Minutes Straight w/ Illy Quane
Illy Quane: trumpet player extraordinaire, composer, and very funny guy. If you’re looking for some light lockdown distraction, this is it.
We chat about our disappointment with existing brass repertoire (apart from one piece for brass ensemble), Illy explains his developing thoughts on creating gran-friendly contemporary music programmes, and Joe recounts the moment he realised The Sixteen had more than sixteen members.
All in-betweeny music composed or arranged by Illy, and can be heard in full at the links below.
Links and Show Notes
Penderecki - Threnody (Animated Score) starts 0:32
Illy playing with the University of Manchester Brass Band (I’m at the back right)
Kantos Chamber Choir
AGBEKO - ‘22-legged Afro-Party Monster’
A Fela Kuti tune - Water no get enemy
EXCLUSIVE: Secret Footage of Quartet Menine Performing The Metal by Tenacious D Found in Deepest Darkest Corner of YouTube
Quartet Menine playing an arrangement of Debussy’s Dr Gradus ad Parnassum
Shout out Darren Bloom
The New New Manchester Manchester School School presents: And And And And I’ll [Live] (discussed later)
Other members of The New New Manchester Manchester School School, Izzy Williams and Aaron Breeze.
Worship Music
The Lion King (but the songs are different and the plot is terrible)
Jacob Collier’s beautiful performance of Hallelujah live for BBC
BeatSketch_#1 - BIRD SCUFF
‘Like those videos of people playing along with a Nigel Farage Speech’ example
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Subscribe to the mailing list and get new podcast episodes straight to your inbox, as well as a piece recommendation every month and exclusive ticket discounts (oooh)
Apr 30, 2020
E5 So why are you doing the Adès? w/ Vonnegut Collective
Today we’re chatting improv and Adès with the Vonnegut Collective. An enjoyably Coronavirus-free interview recorded back in March with a healthy dose of silliness and fun to complement the deep thoughts on what makes a good piece, and the place of improvisation in music education.
Vonnegut Collective - https://vonnegutcollective.co.uk/
Links and Show Notes Omer Meir Wellber
Remix Ensemble
Frank Zappa - The Yellow Shark - Intro
Rem Koolhaas architect
As Gemma won’t give us her favourite Dire Straits song, here’s Spotify’s
Django Bates
Markus Stockhausen
Cornelius Cardew Scratch Orchestra
John Stevens - Search & Reflect
Iceberg
https://vonnegutcollective.co.uk/projects/thomas-ades-tullis-rennie/
Adès Piano Quintet score (check out the sorta uncoupled piano in the first movement)
Tullis Rennie - Muscle Memory (it’s really cool)
Rate us on iTunes - it really helps!
Subscribe to the mailing list for new episode notifications
Mar 31, 2020
E4 A Writer and a Reviewer Walk into a Music Podcast...
Today we are blessed with a great window into the world of arts reviewing and writing thanks to Hugh Morris, and the similarities and differences to creative writing thanks to Georgia Affonso.
The pair collaborated on a piece for No Dice Collective in 2019 based on a photo of Anthony Burgess (the Clockwork Orange guy) walking his dog, and we share the stories behind the piece in this episode and play the piece in full.
Hugh Morris - https://www.facebook.com/hughmorrismusic
Georgia Affonso - https://twitter.com/georgia_writes
Links and Show Notes
* Harrison Birtwistle Mask of Orpheus - ENO
* ENO Baylis scheme
* For those as fashion unconscious as me...
* Chorus of rage as ENO gives critics’ coveted extra tickets to young bloggers - The Guardian
* Georgia and Hugh’s object: Anthony Burgess walking his dog
* Georgia Affonso x Sophie Sully - Dilly the Slug
* Hugh makes it on Buzzfeed
* Good King Agatha | Hugh Morris & Edmund Phillips | Manchester Contemporary Youth Opera (check out more of Hugh’s work!)
As ever, thank you for spreading the word about the podcast!
Subscribe to the mailing list for podcast episode news and a piece recommendation every month
Mar 4, 2020
E3 The Ensemble of the Future w/ Manchester Collective
Today I’m thrilled to share an interview with Adam and Rakhi of Manchester Collective. Emerging in 2017, they're already an established part of the Manchester scene thanks to their impressive work ethic and immersive concert experiences.
We discover their origin story: how the group was founded, its roots in changing the makeup of classical audiences, and how they came into the world seemingly full-formed with three seasons planned ahead (hint: a whole year of planning).
We also find out what their secret sauce is, their ‘warts and all’ approach to live performance, and Adam’s #logisticslife revealing the glamorous world of lighting rig updates and taping down crystal glasses that makes a concert really shine.
Manchester Collective - https://manchestercollective.co.uk/
Rate us on iTunes - it really helps!
Subscribe to the mailing list for new episode notifications
Links and Show Notes
Black Angels score Google search
Black Angels performance
Quote from Black Angels: “The crystal glasses should be goblet-shaped. A fine grade of crystal will produce a truly beautiful effect. The glasses should be mounted on a board (by taping).”
Alphabet
Islington Mill
Heinrich Biber - Battalia à 10 (1673) Check out the col legno (back of the bow) in movement one, the nuts dissonance in movement two, and the musket fire in movement seven!
Australian Chamber Orchestra
Rakhi performs Spiegel im Spiegel
After the Tryst (not Rakhi)
Russian Ark
One of those incredible live Nina Simone performances
Intro/outro music: Goodbye by Luke Mather
What did you think of the first three episodes? Send us a tweet!
Feb 29, 2020
E2 Wish Bone Wish Granted Perhaps w/ David McFarlane and Gregory Kearns
I chat with composer David McFarlane and writer Gregory Kearns on their 2018 collaboration about the Christmas apocalypse, which all stemmed from a set of small bells David received in a Christmas cracker set.
As well as hearing excerpts of their piece, Carol For Our Children, performed by No Dice Collective, we branch out into chats about leading community workshops, space to make mistakes, struggling to take our own creative advice, hang-ups about writing overtly emotional work, and the role of intuition and emotion vs formalised thinking in the creative process.
A really interesting, cross-disciplinary chat that touches on broad themes of individual creative processes. Should be interesting to anyone with a creative urge!
David McFarlane - https://d-mcf.com/
Gregory Kearns - https://twitter.com/gregorykearns
Rate us on iTunes - it really helps!
Subscribe to the mailing list for new episode notifications
Links and Show Notes
David McFarlane’s eye-tracking head theramin
Cath Snow
33 ⅓ Series: 93. J Dilla’s Donuts
Alicia Keys, John Mayer & Questlove- If I ain't got you / Gravity
Tweet us your poem!
Jonathan Harvey famous bell piece
Meet The Composer Podcast - New Music Fight Club (great name)
NB: My non-binary life
Christmas in L.A. - Vulfpeck
Christmas In L.A. - The Killers
The Handsome Family - So Much Wine
The Road OST - Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
What did you think of episode two? Send us a tweet!
Feb 13, 2020
E1 Remote Work: A Musician's Guide w/ Jiří Kadeřábek and Jasmin Allpress
Hello there! Come on in…
Today I’m speaking to Czech composer Jiří Kadeřábek and No Dice pianist Jasmin Allpress about their shared journey bringing the piece Hindyish together.
We’ll hear how they worked across Europe via Skype and phone calls to bring the piece together, how Jiří makes this very stylistically post-modern piece sound cohesive, as well as walk through the piece itself before ending with a recording of Jasmin playing it at our Soloist concert of June 2018.
Rate us on iTunes - it really helps!
Subscribe to the mailing list for new episode notifications
Links and show notes:
Ligeti Piano Concerto
Carl Vine 5 Bagatelles
http://www.jirikaderabek.com/en/
https://www.larisatrio.co.uk/
What did you think of our first episode? Send us a tweet!